Extinction And Religion

Human-caused extinctions have never been so prominent in our political and cultural landscape. Extinction and Religion is a collection of wide-ranging chapters that explore the implications for religious faith and experience as it relates to a "sixth mass extinction" in Earth's history. Further it seeks to answer the question as to how religious and spiritual practices are shaping responses to the crisis? Edited by Jeremy H. Kidwell and Stefan Skrimshire, this collection aims to set a new postsecular agenda, articulating the questions, challenges, and ways forward for thinking about religion in an age of mass extinction rather than provide responses from world religions in isolation. It covers subjects such as the multitude of challenges posed by mass extinction to beliefs about the future of humanity, death and the afterlife, the integrity of creation, and the relationship between human and nonhuman life. Wide ranging and incisive, Extinction and Religion amply demonstrates the many ways in which the threat of extinction profoundly affects our faith and religious life worlds.

Human-caused extinctions have never been so prominent in our political and cultural landscape. Extinction and Religion is a collection of wide-ranging chapters that explore the implications for religious faith and experience as it relates to a "sixth mass extinction" in Earth's history. Further it seeks to answer the question as to how religious and spiritual practices are shaping responses to the crisis? Edited by Jeremy H. Kidwell and Stefan Skrimshire, this collection aims to set a new postsecular agenda, articulating the questions, challenges, and ways forward for thinking about religion in an age of mass extinction rather than provide responses from world religions in isolation. It covers subjects such as the multitude of challenges posed by mass extinction to beliefs about the future of humanity, death and the afterlife, the integrity of creation, and the relationship between human and nonhuman life. Wide ranging and incisive, Extinction and Religion amply demonstrates the many ways in which the threat of extinction profoundly affects our faith and religious life worlds.

Despite its reputation for religious intolerance, the Middle East has long sheltered many distinctive and strange faiths: one regards the Greek prophets as incarnations of God, another reveres Lucifer in the form of a peacock, and yet another believes that their followers are reincarnated beings who have existed in various forms for thousands of years. These religions represent the last vestiges of the magnificent civilizations in ancient history: Persia, Babylon, Egypt in the time of the Pharaohs. Their followers have learned how to survive foreign attacks and the perils of assimilation. But today, with the Middle East in turmoil, they face greater challenges than ever before. In Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms, former diplomat Gerard Russell ventures to the distant, nearly impassable regions where these mysterious religions still cling to survival. He lives alongside the Mandaeans and Ezidis of Iraq, the Zoroastrians of Iran, the Copts of Egypt, and others. He learns their histories, participates in their rituals, and comes to understand the threats to their communities. Historically a tolerant faith, Islam has, since the early 20th century, witnessed the rise of militant, extremist sects. This development, along with the rippling effects of Western invasion, now pose existential threats to these minority faiths. And as more and more of their youth flee to the West in search of greater freedoms and job prospects, these religions face the dire possibility of extinction. Drawing on his extensive travels and archival research, Russell provides an essential record of the past, present, and perilous future of these remarkable religions.

This book shows how close the world came to nuclear catastrophe under President Reagan and how this was prompted by what the author calls 'biblical BS'. The book begins with a brief survey for the purpose of clarifying to the reader the nature of their own religious belief. It then continues into an explanation of the pre-historic religious impulse. After defining what is meant by 'biblical BS' in chapter 3, the author looks at the topics of 'objectivity', 'biblical criticism', and the social effects of 'biblical BS' in chapters 4, 5 and 6 respectively. Chapter 7 is a kind of pivot point in the book and the longest chapter on how Christian fundamentalism nearly brought the world to the brink of disaster and what the effects of such a disaster would be on our planet. Chapter 8 discusses who bears the burden of proof in a religious argument. Chapters 9 and 10 tie all the loose ends together with perhaps a surprise ending.

The Extinction of Evolution explores what the world would be like if the theory of evolution were actually true. Written from the view that man created the idea of God, as opposed to God creating man, this book painstakingly examines this atheistic mentality in vivid detail. What it reveals will surprise you. Evolution, implemented to its logical conclusion, has severe ramifications for humankind. When one rejects the foundational truth of God and embraces Darwins alternative to our origins, a disastrous chain of events is triggered. As you dive deeply into this worldview of evolution, you will be exposed to the most frightening environment imaginable where the rape, murder and exploitation of the weak are not to be punished but to be applauded. In the misguided words of Charles Darwin, let the strongest live and the weakest die. After traveling through the abyss of evolution, a miserable philosophical failure, The Extinction of Evolution, brings you back to a place of hope where Christ stands above all as the Creator of this remarkable thing we call life. The Extinction of Evolution has been compared to The Screwtape Letters, a classic work of C.S. Lewis. Like Screwtape, this book has a fictional character that is the antagonist. His name is Dr. Iman Oxidant. Dr. Oxidant argues for a lifestyle derived from evolutionary ideals. This approach makes this book about evolution accessible to the non - scientific reader. But in doing so, Dr. Oxidant causes an intense spiritual struggle for the born again believer as he argues for his atheisticevolutionary agenda. It is a gripping read that identifies the true nature of evolution in a way that has never been done before.

**A Library Journal Best Book of 2015 ** **A Christian Science Monitor Top Ten Book of September** In a world dominated by people and rapid climate change, species large and small are increasingly vulnerable to extinction. In Resurrection Science, journalist M. R. O'Connor explores the extreme measures scientists are taking to try and save them, from captive breeding and genetic management to de-extinction. Paradoxically, the more we intervene to save species, the less wild they often become. In stories of sixteenth-century galleon excavations, panther-tracking in Florida swamps, ancient African rainforests, Neanderthal tool-making, and cryogenic DNA banks, O'Connor investigates the philosophical questions of an age in which we "play god" with earth's biodiversity. Each chapter in this beautifully written book focuses on a unique species--from the charismatic northern white rhinoceros to the infamous passenger pigeon--and the people entwined in the animals' fates. Incorporating natural history and evolutionary biology with conversations with eminent ethicists, O'Connor's narrative goes to the heart of the human enterprise: What should we preserve of wilderness as we hurtle toward a future in which technology is present in nearly every aspect of our lives? How can we co-exist with species when our existence and their survival appear to be pitted against one another?